Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong elevated jazz to a new level with his virtuosity, commanding performances, and willingness to travel the world in support of this American art form. Born in New Orleans in 1901, Armstrong spent his childhood in the midst of poverty and struggle, delivering coal and singing on the street to make money. In 1913 he was sent to a home for indigent children and it was here that he took up the cornet, playing in the home’s brass band. Over the next few years he played in a number of brass bands and replaced the famed King Oliver in the Kid Ory band. Armstrong left New Orleans to go to Chicago in the early 1920s, where he joined King Oliver in the Creole Jazz Band. He gave up the cornet for the trumpet and played with several big bands, including Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra, the Guy Lombardo orchestra, and the Sunset Cabaret orchestra. In 1925 Armstrong began recording under his own name with the Hot Five and Hot Seven - these recordings made ‘Satchmo’ and jazz an international sensation. His popularity was especially strong in Europe during the 1930s, and he toured the continent for almost two years. After World War II Armstrong transitioned from playing with big bands to performing as the lead of a sextet. He performed and toured constantly throughout the following decades, recorded hit after hit, and composed many of the jazz standards we enjoy today. His distinctive voice became as important as his trumpet playing and his ‘scatting’ was taken up by jazz singers everywhere. Louis Armstrong died in 1971 in Corona, Queens.
